


Never Let You Go

by FFlove190



Category: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Angst, M/M, Unhealthy Relationships, former Zack Fair/Reno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29752233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FFlove190/pseuds/FFlove190
Summary: Cloud questions why Reno is with him, Reno makes those questions go away.
Relationships: Reno/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Reno
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4
Collections: FFVII Secret Spring





	Never Let You Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KDblack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDblack/gifts).



> beta'd by: [tyrannosaurus_rose](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrannosaurus_rose)

“Do you even like me?” Cloud delivered the question with the same grace he delivers a package to President Shinra: wondering how the fuck he got there. 

Reno snorted. “You asking that now? Darlin’,” Reno waved his beer bottle till some splattered across the tabletop. Best to look drunker than he was for this conversation. “We’ve been up and down this block fucking each other for years. You got horrible timing.”

Cloud did his best I-saved-the-world-I-take-no-shit-glare. Reno ignored it. “It’s just a question. One that needs an answer.” Threat curled around the words. Cloud would never act on it.

“Shit.” Reno took a swig and let demi sink into his voice. “You’re hanging out with Vincent too much.” Honestly, most of AVALANCHE was insightful as fuck - not just the ones that used to be Turk. Saving the world probably did that to people. Reno wouldn’t know. 

“Reno.” Cloud’s tone said he might just walk away. Stand up and go, dumb shoulderpads and all, leaving Reno with nothing but ash in his mouth and blood on his hands. But would he? No way. Never. Cloud didn't even know why he was dating Reno to begin with. 

“‘Course I hated you at first.” Reno remembered it. Platefall had been an excuse: he wanted Cloud dead, not AVALANCHE. He begged for the assignment. Sector Seven was a gift for Cloud and Cloud alone. Because how dare this asshole come in pretending to be someone he wasn’t? Pretending to be the guy who died for some nameless country bumpkin science experiment? 

Cloud’s brow hiked to his hairline. _‘No shit,_ ’ his expression said, like he could read Reno’s every thought. 

“Then, I don’t know, I got to know you and I realized I liked your quirks.” Like Cloud’s oversized sword, the way he didn’t sound like himself, and the way he remembered things that had never happened to him. Reno nodded to himself with each tick on the list. Hard to be angry at that. “Yeah. So I like you. Where’s this coming from?” 

Cloud shrugged while simultaneously taking a shot. Reno loved it. The hair was wrong, the expression off, but that move - that was right. 

“It’s like you’re waiting for someone else.” Cloud didn’t reach for the bottle to refill his glass, like he wanted to pretend he was sober. 

“Nah,” Reno laughed. “Who else would I be waiting for?”

Reno hadn’t been the one to put the bullet to his head outside of Midgar, but he’d piled the body onto a stretcher in Nibelheim. Just like any good Turk: smile, nod, throw away the most important thing in your life. 

Nobody else but Cloud could take his place. 

Cloud smiled a tiny smile, so small you practically need a telescope to spot it. Reno preferred the ones that split his face in half when he laughed. That was the way his smiles were supposed to look. 

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Cloud scratched at his hair. Not black, not gelled, but enough. Just like a million times before, Reno leaned over and cupped the back of Cloud’s skull. It was the right size, fit into the palm of Reno’s hand just like it should. 

Cloud didn’t melt at the touch, but Reno didn’t need that. Instead the big bad hero rolled his eyes and smiled that tiny, useless smile and leaned into Reno’s touch like he didn’t belong anywhere else. That was right. 

Reno refused to let Zack go ever again.


End file.
